I had just taken my first bite … The croissant was warm, crisp and buttery, the bacon thick and salty, the egg and cheese perfectly blended in a savory, melty paradise. It was my second morning at this week’s Inside Self-Storage World Expo in Las Vegas, and I was relying on carbs and grease to cut through the miasma of too little sleep, the previous evening’s ration of wine, and the adrenal burnout generally associated with any event that takes place in Sin City. Thankfully, the Paris Hotel & Resort has a lovely boulangerie where one can find the best croissant sandwiches in town.
I was stationed at the ISS Store sales booth in the education corridor, assisting customers with pre-orders of expo-seminar DVDs. Most attendees were safely ensconced in their 8 a.m. session and, for a time, the hallway was blissfully quiet. I thought it safe to indulge in the breakfast I’d hidden beneath the counter, still tepid in its wrappings. My brain barely had time to register the sheer delight being experienced by my taste buds when I heard it … that not-so-subtle throat clearing that typically precedes an interruption.
“Am I disturbing your breakfast?” he asked with the slightest hint of banter. I quickly gulped my half-chewed mouthful, stashed my treasure back in its hiding spot and slapped on a sincere if bacon-slicked smile. “How can I help you?”
After several minutes of talking business, the customer reminded me of my abandoned snack, now congealing on a shelf between a power strip and a stack of promo fliers.
“You should finish your breakfast.”
“No, it’s fine. I can eat it later.”
“But it’s getting cold.”
“Oh, it’ll still taste great. Really.”
“It won’t taste as good.”
“There’s nothing I’d rather be doing than assisting you.”
“You seem to have some kind of psychological problem. Why are you sublimating your desires and lying to me about not wanting to eat your breakfast? I know you do.”
“Because you’re a customer, and I’m not being paid to sit here and eat croissants!”
The truth is, I did want to return to my meal. Both my tongue and stomach were eager for me to do so. But the customer always comes first at the ISS Expo, particularly when it’s the largest show in several years, and especially when it comes to the ISS Store, our e-commerce website, which is a point of personal pride for me. When you’re high on expo energy, it’s more than sufficient to overshadow the most delectable croissanwich you’ve ever tasted. In the end, I only consumed about half of that puppy over the course of several hours; but the sad waste was 100 percent worthwhile.
Approximately 3,000 industry professionals gathered for this week’s show, and we experienced an intensely attended education program. We recorded video of all 45 concurrent seminars, organized in 10 topic-themed tracks, each of which will be professionally produced, integrated with the presentation slides, stylishly packaged and shipped directly to customers’ doors. The DVDs are fantastic for several reasons:
1. If you attended a session you particularly enjoyed or found useful, you can employ the recording as a refresher, or share it with co-workers and staff. They make particularly great training tools.
2. If you missed a session you wanted to attend, the recordings are the perfect way to access the material.
3. If you missed the show entirely, the recordings are the next best thing to being there live.
4. Education DVDs allow you to build an informational library that will help you and anyone else in your organization achieve maximum success, now and into the future.
Our special show pricing will expire after this weekend, so it’s your last chance to get videos at a discount. You can purchase sessions a la carte or choose from one of 13 pre-packaged bundles. The completed orders are expected to be shipped by June 26. To peruse options, visit the “ISS Expo 2015 Session DVDs” page at the ISS Store. On-demand versions of the videos will also be available in late spring.
This year’s show was amazing, and we’re grateful to everyone who attended. I’d like to extend our sincerest appreciation to all the presenters who participated in the education program. We were honored to work with more than 60 of the canniest, coolest, most talented authorities in the self-storage business ... And thanks to the beauty of technology, you can have all their knowledge right at your fingertips.
Now that I’m back home, eating my usual breakfast of Southwest-scrambled egg whites with salsa and a side of fruit, I’ve spared a few longing thoughts for that beautiful, buttery indulgence I partly enjoyed at the show. But they’re not nearly as gratifying as remembering what we created in Las Vegas this week—not only the industry’s largest, most edifying event of the year, but business information and connections that will positively impact storage operations for years to come.
Did you attend this week’s show? What did you most enjoy? Please share your feedback in the comments area below.